Conference Notes: Paris 2004

The Fourth European Dark-Sky Symposium, Paris, September 24-25 2004

The 2004 (Fourth) European Dark-Sky Symposium was hosted by the Association Nationale pour la Protection du Ciel Nocturne (ANPCN) and the Société Astronomique de France (SAF), with the collaboration of the International Dark-Sky Association (IDA). The symposium took place in the venerable surroundings of the Paris Astrophysical Institute, which is in the grounds of the old Paris Observatory. Delegates were given a tour of the buildings (with instruments and images from the seventeenth to the nineteenth centuries), and mounted the great spiral staircases to the dome where Cassini, Le Verrier and Arago observed in their time.

About 70 delegates from dark-sky movements in ten European countries, and a contingent from the International Dark-Sky Association (IDA), came together with environmentalists, biologists, local government officers and lighting professionals, to discuss progress and challenges in the international dark-skies debate, and to plan future campaigning. The well-known French-Canadian astrophysicist Hubert Reeves, who specialises in the effects of human activities on the world's fauna, chaired the first session.

Seven members/supporters of the BAA Campaign for Dark Skies (CfDS) attended. Among the many subjects discussed were: the impact of night-time lighting on flora and fauna (Florent Lamiot, Nord/Pas de Calais Regional Environment Manager); the massive environmental impact of light escaping from greenhouses in the Netherlands (Wim Schmidt); and the highly successful activities of the Flemish night-sky campaigners who have persuaded 160 Belgian towns to participate in "Nights of Darkness", switching off numbers of lamps to facilitate observing.

UK delegates told the assembly about the positive Select Committee report of 2003, and the new ODPM planning regulations now in the pipeline. Important steps towards better night skies are being taken in many other countries. The IDA section leaders also debated strategies and successes in a separate session.

CfDS officer Joy Griffiths received the IDA's Achievement Award for her immense efforts in SW England, including the sensitive re-lighting of Hinton St George, where villagers agreed to fund their own FCO lighting scheme! Joy Griffiths is pictured on the left with Dutch dark-sky campaigner Wim Schmidt (photo by Bob Griffiths).

The next Dark-Sky Symposium will be in Belgium in April 2005, and it has been decided that CfDS will host the 2006 event. Further details will appear on this website.